The World Crumbled Around Her
by NefariaBlack
Summary: At night, in Hogwarts, a wizard and a witch come together, only to show their true colours and shatter all they had.


**The World Crumbled Around Her**

When the clock stroke midnight, marking the beginning of the third day of December, Andromeda silently pushed her covers away and took a peek from behind the curtains of her bed. All of her roommates seemed to be asleep, so she got up and put on her velvety dressing robe, wrapping her body in the burgundy garment, pulling the collar closer to her neck.

Her cat purred when she covered it with the quilt. The furry feline refused to be disturbed by her leaving, though it hissed when a fragile looking Bowtruckle climbed over its back, catching Andromeda's attention. She had found the poor creature lost in the halls of Hogwarts, probably left behind after a Care of Magical Creatures class, and couldn't resist taking care of it. Yet unnamed, the little green stick-figure had apparently adopted her as much as she had adopted it, and now lived in her four-poster bed.

Tonight, though, the Bowtruckle had no intention of staying up in the crack it had found on her headboard, and that Andromeda had forbidden the house-elves from fixing. It jumped off the cat and scurried over her bed, making distressed high-pitched sounds. She let it climb over her hand and into her sleeve, feeling it crawl up her arm to hide among her curls, by her neck. She would be its tree, it seemed.

Andromeda stealthily made her way from her dormitory to the Slytherin Common Room, looking around and casting spells to make sure she was alone. She checked twice, for good measure, and then walked to the wood logs by the fireplace, levitating a couple into the dying fire. She watched the flames grow, and their reflections on the polished ornaments caught her eye, making her observe the great Christmas tree with renewed attention.

"Merry Christmas," said a hushed voice from behind her.

She turned on the balls of her feet, caught unaware, only to smile openly once Rabastan walked off the shadows by the doorway that led to the boy's dormitories. He wrapped his arms around her, moving to kiss her. She let him, but only for a moment.

"Not here, Rabastan, someone might see us," she whispered, but her warning faded to a giggle when he attacked her neck with little nibs and kisses. She wrapped her fingers round his arms, then moved her arms to hug his neck and pull him closer, pressing her body to his, clad in a dark dressing robe.

"Ouch!" Rabastan retreated hastily, pushing her away from him gently, while pulling a spindly creature off his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Bast," she said, moving to collect the furious Bowtruckle from his hands, "I found him a week ago and he likes being near." She held it up for Rabastan to see.

"You and you love for creatures… How many pets do you have, anyway?" He didn't wait to hear her answer; capturing her lips with his once more. He was hungry for her.

Andromeda had never felt so excited in her life. This was thrilling, sneaking around Hogwarts with Rabastan, and they both liked it, so they made sure no one else knew of their affection for each other. It had started in the first days of September, the year before, after they had both dallied in the greenhouses. The summer had been particularly long for them, but stately houses like theirs had plenty of places to abscond to together. There were plenty of rumours going around, but Hogwarts was so big that it was easy for them to be out of sight, and so the rumours went on unconfirmed. Meeting each other in the Common Room at night, though, was daring. Brazen. Bold. Something Bella would've done, not her.

They were sixteen, and they both knew what was expected of pure-blood wizards and witches of their age. They were supposed to be dating and courting possible spouses, if not openly in a relationship that would lead to marriage once they graduated. It was their responsibility to find a suitable match during their Hogwarts years, and to announce it to their parents, but they were enjoying their little game, keeping even their families guessing, while they established their love for each other, their claim on each other's bodies.

"Have you been naughty or nice this year?" He asked into her brown curls, safely now that she had pocketed the Bowtruckle. "Because I might have a gift for you."

"Do you also have a piece of coal? Because sneaking away into empty classrooms with you must make me very naughty…"

"Empty classrooms, empty greenhouses, empty drawing rooms…Good thing… my gift …lends itself… to naughty things then," he replied, being interrupted by her kisses, "and if you keep that up, we'll end up doing something very naughty on that sofa, right there," he said, jutting his chin to the comfortable sofa by the fireplace.

She pushed him away at that, licking her already swollen lips.

"No such thing. I'm not traumatizing the Bowtruckle tonight. Now, what's my gift?"

She was standing before Rabastan, hands on her small waist, the burgundy of her robe catching the light from the fire, and he thought her positively gorgeous. Demanding her gift from him with a challenge in her eyes, daring him to come closer. Rabastan smiled, a wry smile like the cat that got the cream, and extracted a small branch of mistletoe from his own pocket.

They chuckled together, anticipating what was to come. Rabastan held it up, over his nose, and gestured for her to step closer. Andromeda shook her head, tracing the collar of her robe with a tantalizing finger, while using her other hand to grab at the tie of Rabastan's robe and pull him to her. Their lips met, then their tongues, until Rabastan pulled his face away.

"On second thought, I need both my hands to do this properly."

He extracted his wand and pointed it to the mistletoe, setting it to levitate over them, then stored the wand in his pocket and pulled Andromeda close again, grasping the tie of her robe, undoing it deftly, and burying both his hands in the curves of her body. He hummed into the kiss when she mimicked him, caressing his chest, and his flat belly, even daring to tease him over his pants. He drove his left hand to her hip and to her thigh, and then lower to grab a handful of her nightgown and pull it up.

Andromeda bit down on his shoulder, hard, marking him even through the layers of fabric.

"I said," she bit the lobe of his ear, "that we are not traumatizing the Bowtruckle tonight." Andromeda stared up to Rabastan, but did not move away, simply looked pointedly to the place on her thigh where his hand lay.

"I don't think that thing would be traumatized at all," he said, with a light peck to her lips, and then looking wantonly to the slice of skin that shone golden under the light from the fireplace. Rabastan removed his hand, letting Andromeda's nightgown drop down, and then looked up again, smiling at the hunger in her eyes.

"I can't wait to be done with Hogwarts," he told her, tucking her hair behind her ears, "and have you all to myself, wherever I want, whenever I want. I'll hole you up in our house, and no one will ever see us, just like here."

They just stood there, hugging under the mistletoe, lost in each other's eyes, for a long moment, listening to the wood crackling in the fire. Andromeda tilted her head to the side, and then buried it in his shoulder, taking a deep breath, and whispering.

"Don't you suppose we'll have to tell our parents? You know, get permission to get married and what not."

"Well, yes, but they don't have to see us together. We could keep it a secret right until we leave Hogwarts, then we tell them. We'll get the Dark Lord's permission as well-"

"What?"

Rabastan was pushed away and when he looked down Andromeda seemed horrified by his words.

Andromeda didn't know what to think of Rabastan, now. She knew that the subject would eventually come up, but never thought it would do so like this. His brother Rodolphus, who had graduated last summer, was already working undercover at the Ministry, in some unimportant position in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. She loved Rabastan, but she was not sure that she could love him anymore if he sided with Tom Riddle. He had just called him the Dark Lord, so he certainly seemed devoted to his bigoted cause. And she was disappointed in him, for she thought him a better man.

"Why would you need Tom Riddle's permission to marry me?"

"Because he is in charge now, 'Dromeda. He has the pure-blood families' best interests in mind, and he has been pulling the strings for a little while now. He is powerful, so powerful, and he'll make us more powerful, with him."

"By removing the rights of those with Muggle parents? Does that seem fair to you?" Her disappointment was turning into something dangerously close to disgust with every word of him.

"It is neither fair nor unfair, Andromeda. It simply is," he replied, taking a step closer and trying to hold her in his embrace once more, "it's simply how the world was meant to be. The purest blood at the top, because we are the most powerful. It's already like that, anyway, why not make it law?"

She couldn't believe the words coming out of his lips, and she pushed his arms off her as if they burned her. He was just like Bella and Dolph, after all, blind to what Tom Riddle truly wanted to achieve. The Sacred Twenty Eight were simply his path to power, he had no one's best interests at heart but his own, and she was surrounded by idiotic fools that kept falling for it. And she despised them. They disgusted her.

"What? Do you buy into that codswallop that we should all be the same? Do you really think that those filthy Mudbloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts?" Rabastan kept his voice down, but he was clearly shocked, almost spitting the words.

"Of course they should, Rabastan! They're wizards and witches just like us! You know History, you know that once there was only one kind of human, the magical kind, but that some were born without magic and over time they started living apart from us. You know that that's where Muggles come from! They were Squibs once. A Muggle-born is a manifestation of the old magic in their blood!" She replied in the same hushed tone, wanting to scream at him.

"You make it sound like they're something good! They are filthy, Andromeda! Why do you care for them?"

"Why don't you? Don't you see that depriving them from a magical education is wrong?"

Rabastan looked at Andromeda as if she were a slimy creature, and took a couple of steps away from her. He removed his wand from his pocket and set fire to the mistletoe that still hang up above them. Andromeda watched it burn and fall to the floor.

"I cannot believe that I actually dreamt of a life with a… a blood-traitor."

Andromeda gasped at the acute pain in her chest. This was all it took? Was what they had so worthless to him that he wouldn't even consider a relationship with her despite their differences? They had been so happy mere minutes ago, and now all Andromeda had were ashes in her mouth.

"So that's it?" She asked, the pain almost palpable in her voice. "Instead of talking about this, you're just going to throw away all that we could have? The happiness we could build together?"

"I could never be happy with someone like you, Andromeda. I need a woman that will stand with me, by the side of the Dark Lord, not some silly girl lost in utopic daydreaming. This never happened," he said, viciously flinging his words, aiming to hurt her, "and we shall never speak of any of it."

"Rabastan, wait, we can't just end it like this. Why can't we find middle ground in this matter?"

"There is no middle ground in a war, Andromeda. And we are ending this, right here. I shall never be close to you again, unless you see your beliefs for the folly that they are. Then, we might attempt to rebuild this," he turned away from her, walking into the shadows he had come from, but he turned his head to look over his shoulder, "until then, do not worry. Your secret is safe with my indifference."

"My secret?"

"Do you plan to be outspoken about your beliefs in the House of Slytherin?"

He chuckled under his breath. He walked away, then. She remained, staring down at the stone floor at her feet, wondering how her world had collapsed around her. In a moment. In half a sentence.

* * *

 _Author's Notes: Reviews are always welcomed ;)_

 _Prompts and Challenges_

 _Assignment 10 Herbology Task #1: Write about a kiss or a near kiss under the mistletoe_

 _December Writing Club – Character Appreciation 1. [Trait] Animal Lover; Disney Challenge Characters 4. Gaston - Alt, write about someone being surprised by a rejection; Cookie's Cooking Corner 5. Galaxy: Write a pairing sneaking around in secret; Book Club Silas: (dialogue) "It is neither fair nor unfair, [Name]. It simply is.", (word) responsibility, (emotion) disappointed; Showtime 30. Take Me or Leave Me: (plot point) breaking up; Amber's Attic Songs 5. Write about calling someone out on their bigotry and/or prejudice; Count your Buttons Object 4. Mistletoe, Dialogues 1. "Have you been naughty or nice this year?", Words 4. Excited; Em's Emporium 5. (time) midnight; Lo's Lowdown Dialogue 6. "Your secret is safe with my indifference."; Bex's Basement 16. Emy - Go write a RabastanAndromeda._

 _Winter Funfair – Northern: Build a Snowman Scarves **:** (colour) burgundy; Eastern: Christmas Market 14. Cheese Hamper Selection - (Object) Wood Logs; Southern: Christmas Raffle - Dialogue: "Merry Christmas", Item: Christmas Tree, Trope: Secret Relationship_

 _Advent Calendar – Day 3 – (emotion) Disgusted_

 _365 Prompts Challenge – 67. Creature – Bowtruckle_

 _WC – 2 179 words_


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